4/7/2010 3:57:13 PMMaskless Lithography Comes Out of Stealth Mode with Direct Write Lithography System For High-Volume PCB Production

Maskless Lithography, Inc., a Silicon Valley startup led by a group of industry veterans, today came out of stealth mode with a brand new direct-write digital imaging technology that will raise the bar in printed circuit board (PCB) production. The new MLI-2027 direct-write lithography system is the industry's first to combine high throughput and yield with unparalleled accuracy using standard "Non-LDI" resists. Maskless also announced today that Sanmina-SCI Corporation has accepted the first production tool after completing beta testing, validation and qualification of the Maskless MLI-2027 equipment at their San Jose, CA facility.

"The acceptance of this tool marks five years of development coming to fruition," stated Dr. Dan Meisburger, founder and CTO of Maskless Lithography. "In 2005, based upon our founding partners' experience in both lithography and metrology, we identified an opportunity to develop a lithography system that could deliver unrivalled value to the PCB market. We believe we have exceeded that initial vision and are now ready to share this tried and tested capability."

The MLI-2027 is a highly efficient, high throughput PCB production system that can increase the profitability of PCB manufacturers by offering a more cost effective lithography alternative that provides greater yield and ROI compared to other systems on the market. Based on its patented Gray Level Imaging™ (GLI) technology, the MLI-2027 offers unprecedented high printing speed on conventional dry film resists with real-time distortion correction.

"We are really impressed with Maskless' unique direct-write lithography tool," commented Mike Keri, Vice President of Operations for Sanmina-SCI. "The MLI-2027 has allowed us to meet highly challenging designs using conventional dry film resists at high yields and high throughput rates."

Maskless Lithography designs and manufactures high performance direct-write lithography production equipment for leading edge PCB manufacturing. The company was founded in 2005 by Dr. Dan Meisburger who has more than 20 years experience managing and developing lithography and metrology products. He has held senior roles at Ultratech Stepper, IBM, Hewlett-Packard and KLA-Tencor where he was responsible for developing the world's first high-speed electron beam wafer inspection tool.

Meisburger is joined on the executive team by CEO and President, Dr. William Elder, and COO, Edward Carignan. Silicon Valley veteran Elder founded Genus, Inc., a semiconductor capital equipment company which he took public in 1988. Genus was acquired by Aixtron AG in 2005. Carignan is a 25-year veteran in the global PCB industry, holding senior roles with Sanmina-SCI where he had profit and loss responsibility for fabrication divisions in Malaysia, Singapore and China. He also led the division's overseas expansion strategy.